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The Importance of Women in the Civil Rights Movement & Social Justice Organizing

By: Renee Davidson08/26/2013

On Thursday, President Elisabeth MacNamara and staff of the League of Women Voters, including Executive Director Nancy Tate, attended the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s (NCBCP) Black Women’s Roundtableevent, “Women Leaders of the Movement: Past, Present & Future.” The three-part event included stories directly from women who participated in the 1960s Civil Rights movement, as well as an intergenerational discussion on the future of the civil rights movement.

Those who had taken part in the civil rights movement shared the leadership lessons they learned with the new leaders of the movement, who asked thought-provoking questions on how best to honor the past while actively pushing towards the future. A robust discussion on the importance of trusting new and young leaders followed, along with the recognition that we need to create a multi-issue movement that respects the perspectives of people advocating for change from all walks of life.

“This is not something we do. This isn’t a job; it’s a way of life,” said Jamida Orange, executive director, MLK Jr. March Committee-Africa.Fellow panelists echoed Orange’s remarks on social justice activism being a key part of their identity – something that they have spent their entire lives fighting for, and for which they will continue to do so.

The women leaders reminded the crowd of the powerful words of civil rights leader Daisy Bates, who was the only woman to speak at the 1963 March: “We will walk until we are free, until we can walk to any school and take our children to any school in the United States. And we will sit-on and we will kneel-in and we will lie-in if necessary until every Negro in America can vote. This we pledge to the women of America.”